1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a zigzag sewing machine that sews a stitch pattern by a left-right swing of a vertically reciprocating needle bar mounted with a needle at a lower end thereof and by a forward-rearward feed of a feed dog and, more particularly, relates to a zigzag sewing machine that automatically pauses in the midst of sewing a combinational pattern and to an automatic-pause control method of a zigzag sewing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an electronic zigzag sewing machine that sews a stitch pattern by controlling a left-right swing of a vertically reciprocating needle bar mounted with a needle at a lower end thereof and by controlling a forward-rearward feed of a feed dog, a sewing machine that can sew a combinational pattern by using a so-called “memory function” is known that stores, on a ROM or the like, pattern data of a variety of patterns, such as a “practical pattern”, a “stitched ornament pattern”, and a “character pattern”, and that optionally selects (reads out) and stores in a RAM or the like in the selected order a plurality of pieces of pattern data from the stored pattern data to enable each of the stitch patterns to be sewed in the above order (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-218074, for example).
Methods of sewing a pattern with a zigzag sewing machine includes “continuous stitching” in which a single pattern is repeatedly sewed until a user stops the sewing machine and “combination stitching” in which a plurality of types of patterns are sewed as a pattern string arranged in a selected order. The user operates the sewing machine in the following manner.
First, in performing continuous stitching, the sewing machine is stopped by operation of a key switch or a foot controller when the user has performed sewing to a certain length.
Next, in performing combination stitching, the sewing machine is set so as to stop when sewing of the pattern string is completed, or the sewing machine is stopped by operation of the key switch or the foot controller when the user has completed sewing an optional pattern.
However, in the zigzag sewing machine described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-218074, when sewing a combinational pattern, the sewing machine is set so as to automatically stop at the point where sewing of the pattern string is completed, and in combination stitching, a key switch or a foot controller needs to be operated when the sewing machine is to be stopped at a point where sewing of either one of the patterns has been completed and, thus, there is no way to automatically stop the sewing machine.
Accordingly, when changing the color of the thread (color change) midway of the pattern string or when changing the sewing position midway of the pattern string, the user needs to stop the sewing machine manually (operating the key switch or the foot controller). Accordingly, the user needs to pay close attention to the timing to stop the sewing machine while dropping the sewing speed, for example, in order to avoid the sewing machine from stopping before the targeted position or, on the other hand, to avoid excessive sewing.
Other than the above, the user may utilize the function of the sewing machine that automatically stops when a pattern string has been sewed and may divide the pattern string into two pattern strings; however, the user needs to take the trouble of selecting, again, the second pattern string after sewing the first pattern string.
Furthermore, when the pattern data strings are saved as data files, each of the pattern data strings needs to be saved in separate files and the user needs to remember which data files are to be combined.